PS 3525 
U73 A5 
1909 
Copy 1 







Class JT D3.£2iL 

Book, U\ 13/4 5 

Copyright N° IROq 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



THE ANGEL OF THOUGHT 



THE 

ANGEL OF THOUGHT 

and Other Poems 



Impressions from Old Masters 



ETHEL ALLEN MURPHY 




BOSTON 

RICHARD G. BADGER 

The Gorham Press 

1909 



Copyright 1908, by Ethel Allen Murphy- 



All Rights Reserved 



, of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

DEC 22 \ 308 

CLASS (a. XXc, no. 






The Gorliam Press, Boston, U.S. A* 






TO MY FRIEND AND TEACHER 
ANNA J. HAMILTON 



The writer wishes to express her 
gratitude to the art department of 
the Indiana University, whose kind- 
ness in lending the pictures which sug- 
gested the verses, and whose mission in 
opening some of their meanings to her 
spirit, have helped to make possible 
this little hook. 



CONTENTS 



The Angel of Thought .... 13 

(Suggested by a Fra Angelica Angel.) 

Annunciation — Sonnet I .... 15 

Annunciation — Sonnet 1 1 .... 17 
(From the picture !>>/ Botticelli.) 

The Visitation 19 

(From the picture in Durer's series on " The Life 
of the Virgin.") 

A Botticelli Madonna. 

I. The Wondering Angels . 21 

(From the Madonna of the Magnificat.) 

II. The Mournful Mother . . 23 

(From the Madonna of the Pomegranate.) 

III. The Loving Christ . . 2.5 

(From the Madonna of tile Roue Harden.) 

The Angel of the Jasmine Wreath 27 

(From Botticelli's painting, in the Borghese 
Gallery, of the Madonna and Child with 
Angels.) 

A Prayer for the Followers of Ideal Beauty . 29 
(With a pencil sketch of an angel, by Botticelli.) 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



1. Angel- ' Te Dev/m Laudamus," by 

Fra Angelico. 12" 

2. " The Annunciation " -by Botticelli. 14 

3. ' The Visitation (From the picture in 

the series on " The Life of the 
Virgin,") by Dnrer. 18- 

4 ' The Madonna of the Magnificat"— 

by Botticelli. ' 20 

5. "The Madonna of the Pomegranate" 

— by Botticelli 22 

6. ' The Madonna of the Rose Harden " 

-by Botticelli. 24 

7. The Angel Crowned with a Jasmine 

Wreath— by Botticelli. 26 

8. Pencil Sketch of an Angel— by Botticelli. 28 




Te Deum Laudamus 
■by Fro Angelico 



THE ANGEL OF THOUGHT 

(Suggested by a Fra Angelico Angel) 



A 



XGEL of Thought, meseems God winged 

thee so, 
And crowned thine head with passion fine 

as flame. 
And made thy lifted face too pure for shame* 
With eyes and brow a mirror to His glow;— 
And gave thy lips a golden trump, that, though 
Long years have passed since other angels came 
To work the mighty wonders of His name- 
In God's own name and man's, thyself shalt go 
Forever on strong pinions to and fro. 
And round the earth reverberating blow 
The mute, world-shaking music of the mind; 
That thou might'st make as naught all space 

and time, 
And thrill in mystic oneness through mankind. 
Yet dwell in each, inviolate, sublime. 




The Annunciation 
■hy Botticelli 



ANNUNCIATION 

(From the picture by Botticelli) 



I 



KNEELING in prayer, her spirit rapt 
above, 
She meets with God, Who bendeth, brood- 
ing low, 
In vast compassion humanward, and so, 
There comes upon her life the power of Love: 
Rising -behold! with pinions like a dove. 
An angel with a rod where row on row 
Of chaliced lilies spill supernal glow,— 
Which all her thought to wonder mute doth move. 
Then falls upon the rapture of her soul. 
Dimly some vision of Gethsemane. 
Athwart the Resurrection's shining goal. 
And with uplifted hand she pleads as One 
Shall pray in night of darkest agony. 
' This cup remove, — yet. Lord. Thy Will be 
done." 



ANNUNCIATION 

(From a picture by Botticelli) 



II 



IMMORTAL eloquence of mystic Art! 
How strangely o'er oblivion and gray time. 
That hand doth speak, as in the painter's 
prime 
It uttered thus his own and Mary's heart. 
At sight of it. what rich conjectures start. 
Adown the years, what wistful Aves chime. 
That wake the soul to rapture how sublime, 
Wherewith we. too, must bear in Him our part? 
For unto each to bring redemption's share. 
Whereby adown the ages Christ is borne. 
There comes the angel of the lilied rod; 
And though our souls with anguish sore are torn. 
We pray once more the world-o'ercoming prayer, 
And then is born in us the Word of God. 




The Visitation 
by Durer 



THE VISITATION 

{From the picture in Durer's series on " The 
Life of the J' i rain ") 



(HE mountains wonder from their cloudy 
height, 



T 

The skies look on and grow more deep 

with awe; 
From these two women, earthly loves 

withdraw, 
And leave them shrined in some ensphering 

light- 
More fine than that which greets the earthly 

sight, 
More glorious than that Creation saw. 
When, from abeyance to primeval law, 
There burst the dawn from out the womb of 



night ; 



Yet are all things unchanged around them,— 

these, 
The ancient hills, the town, the quiet trees. 
The household presences through which they 

grope 
Blind to all else but to each other's eyes. 
Wherein, transforming heaven and earth, there 

lies 
Sublime effulgence of immortal Hope. 




The Madonna of the 

Magnificat, by Botticelli 



A BOTTICELLI MADONNA 



THE WONDERING ANGELS 

BEHOLD! the Tabernacle of God's Will 
This woman's form enshrineth. What 
is this. 
More glorious than all our age-long bliss. 
Which shines within the shadow of her sill ? 
How shall we lift this strangeness which doth fill 
Her human heart to breaking, — we who miss 
In our immortal joy, the enlight'ning kiss 
Of sorrow's bitter lips whence comforts thrill ? 
How shall we sing to her of joys to come. 
To her who bears upon her breast the sum 
Of death's dread gloom and heaven's undying 

light ? 
Lean close, ah, close, about her from above,— 
Behold upon the mildness of her love 
Enthroned the terrors of His Holv Might! 




The Madonna of the Pomegranate 
by Botticelli 



o 



A BOTTICELLI MADONNA 
II 

THE MOURNFUL MOTHER 

CHILD of mine, my little Son, alas! 

Beneath the sunlight of Thy gentle eyes, 
Too soon, too soon, what fateful shadows 



rise. 
Like night foretold in some sweet woodland 

glass ? 
On tender feet that scarcely bow the grass, 
What stains are those of ripe pomegranate 

dyes ? — 
When on my breast Thy head in slumber lies. 
What thorns are those that through my heart 

do pass ? 
And round about these crowds of haunting forms 
That burn their splendor through my dimmest 

dreams! 
O little Child, Thou Wonder too divine. 
Thy precious body all my bosom warms 
With mine own blood, but oftentimes it seems, 
Too dearly loved, — that yet Thou art not mine. 




The Madonna of the Rose 
Garden, by Botticelli 



A BOTTICELLI MADONNA 
III 

THE LOVING CHRIST 

THE little hands returning wistfully 
From birdlike wand'rings, ever come to 
rest, 
On fostering hand on tender cheek or breast; 
The upturned eyes, with loving certainty 
Seek ever the grave face where broodinjjlv. 
The mother-soul by yearning love opprest, 
With wings down-drooped, seems folded o'er 

the nest 
Where lies the Hope of all humanity. 
And she His World, and He her Calvary, — 
He wraps her round with all the mystery 
Of love predestined for earth's needy ones; 
" Be comforted." it seems He fain would say, 
" O mother mine, there dawns an Easter day, 
And thou in me hast mothered many sons." 







Angel Crowned with Jasmine 
Wreath, by Botticelli 



THE ANGEL OF THE JASMINE WREATH 

(From a picture by Botticelli, of the Madonna 
and Child with Angels, — in the Borghese Gallery) 



INEFFABLE angel, with the jasmine 
wreathed, 
Wherefrom the sweetness over brow and lips, 
And luminous white eyelids tremulously slips, 
A visible essence from thy beauty breathed,— 
The pure and pensive marvel of thy face is 

sheathed 
In tresses softer than the bloom of night, 
Wherefrom the dampness on thy forehead drips 
With dews from out God's meadows infinite, — 
Thy face, itself, a lily filled with light:- 
Thyself the youngest of God's angels and most 

fair. 
Bearing His latest breath and blessing on thine 

hair, 
Thou comest fresh from looking on thy Lord; 
And all is well, and all is filled for thee 
With eloquent, mute wonder of His Word. 
Oh, lean a little forth thy lips to me, 
For I am fain of peace amid this earthly strife,. 
And I would drink, a spent soul, thirstily, 
From out thy never-failing cup of life. 







■ ■ ~ - 









--- *> ^rv. 



~. - qpje-t^^ii^. 



.• 



I*f 



/ 







-Angel, from a "pencil sketch, by Botticelli 



A PRAYER FOR THE FOLLOWERS OF 
IDEAL BEAUTY 

(With a pencil sketch of an Angel by Botticelli} 

THOU in whose All no work imperfect 
stands. 
Thou who dost gaze on Beauty's unveiled 
£j face, 
Grant to Thy children Thy sustaining grace. 
When low at length have run the daylight sands,— 
When, though their day was set to Thy com- 
mands. 
They bow contritely in prayer's holy place, 
Because through strivings beauty-wards they 

trace 
The sad misshapings of their earthly hands: 
Grant them at eve a soul devoutly still, 
Grant them in dreams a vision of Thy light, 
Grant them at morn a sorrow purged away 
Into the peace of all-absolving night. 
Star in the dawnlight of a fairer day. 
Nearer the blossom of Thy perfect Will. 



